How to Find Old Friends From High School

Locating friends from days gone by can call your most acute detective skills into action. Leave no stone unturned and you are certain to find the person you seek.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Phone Books
• Phone Books
• Telephones
• Internet Access
• Computers

1. Check with the alumni center at your former school. Most schools keep regular update forms for graduates who have kept their information current.

2. Scour national telephone books on CD-ROM. Many public libraries offer access to these informational CDs at no charge.

3. Use the Internet. A vast number of Web sites allow you to search information based on various categories. Search for "locate people" on your search engine to get you started.

4. Search active-duty military databases on the Internet. These updated databases provide accurate information about members of all military branches.

5. Use an Internet-based e-mail search. Most search engines have a section that allows you to gain access to the e-mail addresses of anyone in the world.

6. Talk to your librarian. Libraries often contain the answer to a successful missing person search.

7. Search county assessors' offices for property tax records, which will contain owners' names and addresses.

8. Investigate county registrar of voters offices.

9. Visit marriage license bureaus to help you find female classmates by maiden name.

Tips & Warnings

• Send a list of missing alumni in your initial reunion announcement, and ask that recipients forward any information that they may have on the missing people.

[DreamLiving]

on 5/23/2009 Good tips on locating people, especially the free resources. Thanks. Can't wait to reconnect!

[Lazysummer]

on 3/28/2008 You can also try www.thepeoplefinderonline.com
they have a membership fee but you get access to a huge database.

[lwallenstein]

on 1/19/2007 I made some software to help people do this. It is free and it uses google to help locate your friends:

http://www.longtimelost.com

on 11/22/2005 You can go to Classmates.com to find people that you have lost contact with over the years. Simply register and pick the year and school you attended.

on 11/22/2005 Use one of the free mailing list sites such as egroups.com to set up a list for your class. Use the list to keep everyone updated. Use snail mail to gather e-mail addresses, and to update those without e-mail.